Funkadelic Fungi the Reprise: Odd Colors

Recently, I introduced you to some very lovely Amanita muscaria. Most of them were a bright, blazing red, like so:

Amanita muscaria
Amanita muscaria

Some, however, were more sun-colored. We likes sun-colored things here in Seattle, considering how infrequently we get to see the thing that inspired phrases like sun-colored.

The mushroom that would be the sun.
The mushroom that would be the sun.

Amanita muscaria comes in varieties, in fact, and this might be Amanita muscaria var. guessowii. But I’m just guessowiing. Ah-ha-ha. I iz so funneh. Please don’t hit me.

Unknown Amanita and oak leaf
Unknown Amanita and oak leaf

I’m not sure which variety this one is. This is where you fungi lovers get to have your fun.

Unknown Amanita
Unknown Amanita

They look delightful, don’t they? And they are – just so long as you don’t eat them

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Funkadelic Fungi the Reprise: Odd Colors
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5 thoughts on “Funkadelic Fungi the Reprise: Odd Colors

  1. rq
    1

    They have white ones and green ones, too… DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!!!
    If you ever find a blue or purple one, you could probably win a major science award. ;)

  2. 2

    At the risk of sounding pedantic, it’s Amanita muscaria subsp. flavivolvata, (aka Amanita amerimuscaria nom. prov.). Basically, the standard North American member of the Amanita muscaria complex, which generally starts out red and fades to more yellowish tones with age. Amanita muscaria var. guessowii is a northeastern US/eastern Canadian population that is deep yellow right from emergence.

    True A. muscaria subsp. muscaria is a Eurasian species that ranges into Alaska. Somewhere around the middle of Alaska is the biogeographic divide between that and subsp. flavivolvata.

    More than you’ll ever want to know on the topic, via the website of Rod Tuloss, the world’s foremost Amanita taxonomist: http://www.amanitaceae.org/?species%20muscaria

    This species is a favorite subject of time lapse photographers. Here’s a few videos:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq2NFy1Pfgk

    In the second, you can see the fading from red to yellow with age. The third video is of var. guessowii.

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